By mjw from Durham NC on 11/3/2008

I have several cold weather hats and all are geared toward a specific purpose. I have a small thin microfleece that fits under a helmet, a big fur and leather job, and several that I thought were good standard unobtrusive but very warm caps. It could be that this is my first venture into the "expensive winter hat" (>$10) realm, but this cap is miles above those in my previous experience - it is super warm and the earband actually keeps your ears warm. I blocks wind most impressively. It feels very rugged. I've worn it out in a light but continuous rain while skiing once and it seemed to shed water quite nicely, although I don't know how it would perform in real rain. It does have some odd quirks however - first, the sizing was a bit strange. It will not fit closely to you head all the way around, it has a peak at the top that will remain open air inside the hat and I had to get the small even though I thought I have slightly large head. The most annoying feature is that it can be rather hard to hear others when wearing it, especially while moving as the fabric is a little raspy and I at least could hear this while moving as it shifted around a bit. It would have been nice if it were easy to fold up the earflap when you don't need it, but I think that makes it a bit too tight. The other annoying thing is the big goofy logo on the front. I felt a bit like a mountain hardware billboard so I followed the advice of another reviewer and broke out a black sharpie to tone it down a bit. All told though, I really do like the hat and suspect I will continue to use it for a long time.

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By jamphan from Minnesota on 4/17/2008

Worked well in last cold snap with strong winds while hiking with my dog.